Most teams wouldn’t be eager to trade a 28-year-old future Hall of Famer with two more years on his contract at affordable salaries. But the Patriots aren’t like most teams.
So the talk that Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski could be traded has to be taken seriously, given the history of Patriots coach Bill Belichick wanting to move on from players too early, rather than too late.
Belichick would much rather trade a player away when he can still get something valuable for him, rather than wait until that player gets older and loses a step, or until that player’s contract makes him harder to afford, or until that player hits free agency and leaves without the Patriots getting anything in return.
The list of noteworthy players that Belichick has traded is long. Randy Moss, Chandler Jones, Jamie Collins, Richard Seymour, Logan Mankins, Mike Vrabel, Deion Branch, Drew Bledsoe, Matt Cassel, Jimmy Garoppolo and Jacoby Brissett, to name a few, have been sent packing by Belichick.
Albert Breer of SI.com reported that two teams are planning to make offers to the Patriots for Gronk. If those offers are good enough, it wouldn’t be at all surprising to see a trade made on draft day.